What prompted my question was Griggs’ explanation that the central city does NOT need another highway to add to the confluence of seven major ones we’ve got there now. The six additional lanes from the proposed Trinity River parkway would NOT eliminate congestion, he said.

Building the Trinity parkway would merely guarantee another congested highway, he said.

“I’m not a supporter of the toll road,” he said.

Several times Griggs referenced the phenomenon of latent demand — i.e., that free-flowing lanes attract cars like ants to a picnic. “Wherever you build, people will go.”

He said that makes it folly for central Dallas to try to build itself out of traffic gridlock.

“We are so addicted to the automobile,” Griggs said. “Adding lane capacity is like an obese person buying a bigger belt and saying he doesn’t have a weight problem.”

The key to tortured traffic is to balance out transportation among the various modes — car, trains, buses, walking, bicycling, etc.

“We’ve seen in city after city that people will use those choices,” Griggs said. “We need balanced capacity, not added capacity.”

And more, “The cities that are going to make it in the next century are cities that give people the best choices for transportation.”

Griggs will be among a decided council minority — three at least, of the 14 — on the Trinity issue.

Michael Lindenberger quoted the other two — Angela Hunt and Sandy Greyson — the other day. We’re both now waiting for the mayor to break his silence on the Trinity toll road.